Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: media

The NHL’s SVP of corporate sales and marketing—Keith Wachtel—spoke on a marketing panel this morning. Here are some of his comments via Karl Greenberg of Marketing Daily (MediaPost.com):

“Mobile is where things are taking place,” said Wachtel. “If a person is watching on TV, he’s doing it on iPad, too; he’s on mobile. Or he’s buying and sharing it on Shazam. Our fans are young, tech-savvy high earners.”

He added that the days of big sports leagues letting fans find them are over. “It’s us finding them, because they won’t go to NHL.com; they are more likely to look for NHL content on sites like ESPN,” he said. “So we have had to change our model: If you want our content, we will give it to you because at the end of the day, the platform shouldn’t matter. The younger demographic is always changing where they are, using social, not traditional sites. The question is where are they? You have to find them before pulling them into the brand.”

Also interesting were some points about the nature of NHL fan loyalty and of the realistic potential size of the NHL audience. Wachtel said the goal is not to grow the fan base since hockey has geographic limits other sports don’t (“If you can go outside and play the sport there, we’ll be big there,” he said), but to create the kind of league-level loyalty among fans that other sports enjoy, not just team-level loyalty.

“We are fourth of the big four and our fans are the most passionate of all sports partly because it’s a smaller fan base. But while we have avid fans, most of our fans are tribal.”

...you might have an issue in the future, according to Alex Sherman at Business Week:

DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite- TV provider, is threatening to pull more than 25 channels owned by News Corp.’s Fox Networks to “mitigate the madness” of programming price increases by content providers, a company executive said.

Fox is asking DirecTV to pay 40 percent more for channels including FX, National Geographic and several regional sports networks, according to DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang. DirecTV will remove the channels from its package offerings by Nov. 1 if Fox doesn’t lower its asking price, Chang said in an interview today.

DirecTV is the latest company to spar with content providers about programming price increases. Cablevision Systems Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS pulled the Tennis Channel last month after the network asked for “significantly higher” fees. In October 2010, Cablevision paid Fox what it called “an unfair price” for World Series games after a two- week blackout

Earlier today the NHL announced a deal which will allow games to be broadcast in the Nordic region of Europe. David Shoalts at the Globe & Mail looks closer at that deal, and provides a bit of background:

The problem started when the NHL, figuring it could make lots more money from European television, did not renew its deal with ESPN America when it expired after last season. The U.S. cable television giant was the only carrier for all European countries.

Instead, the NHL formed a partnership with two companies, Medge Consulting and Advisers Media International. Neither company owns television networks or stations but both were to act as third parties selling the NHL rights in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to a variety of television networks.

This meant the NHL went from a single outlet in those regions, ESPN, to different outlets in almost every country, which also meant negotiating multiple deals. Naturally, the process dragged on and now only the Nordic countries have the games on TV and other European and Russian fans are steaming.

Forbes estimates that league wide revenue grew 29% from 2006 to 2010, to a total of $2.93 billion. That trend would put the league on course to meet Commissioner Gary Bettman’s post-lockout goal to surpass $3 billion. Lacking NBA or MLB-type cable money, NHL clubs fuel a big chunk of their growth both at the gate and through a digital strategy that has yielded increasingly popular content on NHL Network, NHL.com and NHL Mobile.

“We felt we needed a halo on top of the local markets,” says John Collins, the NHL’s Chief Operating Officer. Charging $169 for the season to give fans access to any game on any night, the league’s subscription fees and ad sales from its digital business now account for 60% of national revenue (that money secured by the league over and above individual franchise revenue derived locally). “Over the past five years we’ve transformed ourselves from a licensing company into a media company,” says Collins of the NHL’s decision to build out its own media platforms itself instead of simply licensing the rights.

I tried folks, I really tried to let my feeling for Alex Kovalev die out. I tried not to have think about him in a Sens uniform anymore, shuffling on an off the ice like a petulant child after not being given what he wanted. I was thrilled when he “left” the NHL for the KHL thinking that I’d never have to think, write, speak about him again and then comes his interview where he rips all things Ottawa.

Yeah, Clouston was not the greatest coach in league history, and yeah maybe he didn’t always communicate with the players, but to say he should have treated players kindly is a joke. You play hockey for a living, getting paid millions of dollars and your concern is getting treated kindly? Sorry AK27, maybe showing some effort, heart, or enthusiasm would have resulted in more positive treatment from the coach, and more ice time. Maybe, just maybe, it would have resulted in the Sens being able to trade you for something higher than a LAST round pick (the pro sports version of a bag of pucks).

Nope, the Sharks haven’t made any big announcements lately. Dan Boyle stayed in town this summer. Good call, considering the weather elsewhere. Undaunted by having his Twitter account interfered with, Logan Couture announced his intention to golf on Saturday: “Heading to the course for 27 holes of golf today. Chances are i’ll be taking more shots today than @biznasty2point0 takes all hockey season.” Sunday, Ryane Clowe went “up da shore with the Willow bear for a feed of nan’s jiggs dinner.” Google Translate couldn’t help me with that, but it sounds lovely. Also Sunday, Woo Shark James Marcou engaged in some rigorous activity, per a tweet about being dehydrated.

Playoff Series Rounds, Stanley Cup Final Series and Vancouver-Boston Game 7 All set new network highs. On television and on-line, Canadians watched hockey in record numbers this playoff season on CBC.

On air, ratings data from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) show CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA’s coverage of the 2011 NHL playoffs has shattered all previous records for post-season audiences. From the four playoff series, to the Stanley Cup Final, to the Vancouver/Boston Game 7 showdown, this year’s playoff run truly was one for the record books.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA - Stanley Cup Final – Vancouver/Boston*
• Average audience of 6.15 million viewers, up 98% compared to the 2009/10 Stanley Cup Final.
• Marks the highest Stanley Cup Final average since TV metered measurement (originally set by 2004 average of 3.73 million, a difference of 65%).

LAST NIGHT’S STANLEY CUP FINAL GAME TIES FOR BEST GAME 7 OVERNIGHT ON RECORD

—Up 14% Over 2009’s Game 7—Ties for Second-Best Stanley Cup Overnight in 37 Years —Highest Stanley Cup Overnight Featuring a Canadian Team in 38 Years—Boston Sets Record, Leads All Metered Markets with a 43.4 Rating & 64 Share

NEW YORK – June 16, 2011 – Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, which saw the Boston Bruins defeat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0, to claim their first championship since 1972, generated a 5.7/10 overnight rating, tying 2003 for the best NHL Stanley Cup Game 7 overnight on record, according to overnight data released today by The Nielsen Company. The overnight was up 14 percent compared to the most recent Game 7 in 2009, which featured two U.S. teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

(Vancouver Canucks already posted here.)
____________________________Q. Claude, can you talk about just how much video you’ve done since Game 1 and fit it into where does that stands versus what you do during the regular season? Is it all the same?

COACH JULIEN: Well, you know, it is all the same. Obviously you’re playing the same team over and over again. If anything, probably the type of video that you’re showing is a little different. During the season, you’re showing the other team’s tendencies. Here you’re making some adjustments as far as how they play.

Obviously, we don’t see them much during the season. So this is a final that requires, probably from the coaches’ end of it, a little bit more time on the video, dissecting it more than we normally would.

With the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins set to face-off in the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday, CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA is interacting with and tracking fan response like never before—with some surprising results.

Through a unique partnership with Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft and CBCSports.ca has been using Hockey Night Pulse at hockeynightpulse.cbc.ca to track fan reaction on Twitter throughout every playoff series, while a partnership with GetGlue.com allows fans to “check in” to CBC’s HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA while they watch and chat with other fans.

Inspired by modern browser standards like those built into Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft’s Hockey Night Pulse allows users to track Twitter reaction to every goal, save and penalty in real time using HTML5. Looking back at the data collected gives a unique perspective on the playoffs.

To date, Hockey Night Pulse has crunched more than 1.2 million tweets on the playoffs. Some results:

...executive vice president of content John Skipper blasted the notion that the company’s Bristol, Conn. campus is a hotbed of office romance, behavioral issues and sexual harassment.

“I can tell you categorically: we do not have a frat-boy culture. We do not condone that kind of activity. In fact, we’ve taken lots and lots of steps to create policies. We’re fairly stringent when people do things. We suspend people. We fire people,” Skipper told reporters after the event. “It is clear to everybody who works for us we are not going to tolerate it. It’s just human nature, human behavior…We have a culture of hard work and achievement and serving fans. We have a lot of employees. A few of them, every now and then, do something stupid.”

The network’s NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby has been pulled off the air after being charged with a felony over a domestic incident with his estranged wife in Amherst, N.Y.. Barnaby’s been linked romantically to ESPN colleague Michelle Beadle, who appeared live on stage at the event. He pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges and apologized for the “unfortunate incident” with his soon-to-be ex-wife.

From James Duthie in yesterday’s post at The Good, The Bad and The Duthie:

At this time of year, the population of hockey “Insiders” explodes like rabbits on Cialis.

Whenever trade deadline approaches, we suddenly become a nation of Bob McKenzie wannabes. It’s like the old Flintstones episode when Fred gets cloned by aliens, and there are thousands of Freds running around Bedrock, robotically chanting, “Yabba…Dabba…Doo.” Except here, they’re Bobs, not Freds, and it’s: “Yabba…Dabba…Deal.”

Every blogger living in his parents’ basement apparently knows exactly where Chris Pronger is going, and who is coming back the other way. He knows this because this dude in his Psych class told him. And the dude in his Psych class knows this because his roommate once dated this girl who moved to California and works at a Hooters near Anaheim, where the Ducks equipment manager’s cousin was having wings and beer last Tuesday, and told her the Pronger deal was done. So she Twittered it.

After missing 50 games due to injury, Marty returned to the Devils’ lineup this past week recording three wins, including two shutouts to garner First Star of the Week honors. The three wins give him 547 for his 16-year NHL career, four behind all-time leader Patrick Roy who retired with 551.

Here is a transcript of his Q&A session with the media today, courtesy of the NHL.

Q. Is it possible that this injury, the silver lining could be that you’ll be fresher down the stretch and in the playoffs as you’ve ever been in your career?

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I hope so. I think you have to take every positive you can from an injury. Sometimes it’s hard to have them. But definitely not playing as many games, you know, we’ll see what that translates into, what kind of success in the playoffs.

* While on the air, listeners can call into the show at 1-877-645-6696, or send questions/comments to this email address: nhlhour@nhl.com
**Archived shows available for download via podcast on NHL.com.

It’s time for the weekly edition of the Inside Hockey Radio Show with hosts James Murphy and Todd Carroll. Here’s a note from Murph, for anyone in Montreal today:

This week we are live from Montreal and the 2009 NHL All Star celebration! We will be broadcasting from the XM stand under the “All Star Jamboree Tent” across from the Bell Centre and we will be joined by numerous NHL stars in person. So if you’re in Montreal this Saturday, do drop by the “Jamboree” tent to say hello and listen to some good hockey talk.

Last week, we took a pretty negative stance on the quality of NHL Fanhouse lately. We stand by it, as we stand by everything we do here at Puck the Media. We know for a fact that there are many people who agree with our opinion. We’re sure, conversely, that there are many people who disagree. But, what I do believe is that, while we were accentuating the negatives, we should have been highlighting another blog, that has sort of taken Fanhouse’s spot as the go-to place for a myriad of hockey opinions and news: I speak of course of that ol’ reliable Kukla’s Korner.

Steve, who regularly critiques the NHL’s hockey media—both mainstream and new media—goes on to write a very nice review of Kukla’s Korner and we’re quite flattered. (Thanks, Steve!) Read the rest here.

Today, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash participated in a NHL teleconference with the media. Here is a transcript of that Q&A session.

Q. What defenseman, past or present, has presented you with your biggest challenge?

RICK NASH: I’m going to say Chris Pronger. Pretty tough guy to play against. Adam Foote has been really tough. It was nice when we had him on our team. You know, usually the bigger, stronger guys are usually the guys I find tough to play against.

Today’s guest on the NHL’s conference call was Boston Bruins right wing Phil Kessel, who answered questions from numerous members of the hockey media.

Earlier today Phil was named NHL ‘First Star’ for the week that ended yesterday after leading the National Hockey League in scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points. The Bruins won three of four games for the week. Phil has the NHL’s longest active point streak, which is currently at 15 games, and the longest streak for a Bruin since Adam Oates had a 20-game streak in January and February of 1997. The Madison, Wisconsin native ranks second on the Bruins in scoring with 31 points and his 19 goals are third in the League behind Thomas Vanek of Buffalo, who has 24, and Jeff Carter of Philadelphia with 21.

Q & A

Q. Are you still playing mostly with Marc Savard at center and Milan Lucic on the left wing?

PHIL KESSEL: Yeah, that’s who I’m playing with right now. I enjoy playing with both those guys. They’re both great hockey players.

As if the hockey gods had scheduled it, there was snow during the game—how perfect! And the icing on the cake? It came down to a shootout, and a goal by one of the best players in the NHL, Sidney Crosby. It all made for incredible HD video from NBC, not to mention the audio of players being checked into the boards and hearing the old-time organ through my surround speakers.

Tomorrow, for the first time since March 16, 1996, the Toronto Maple Leafs won’t be playing on a non-holiday, regular season Saturday. They play tonight in Buffalo; they won’t be in action again until next Tuesday.

The Maple Leafs’ non-appearance on Hockey Night in Canada is mildly intriguing. The Leafs are a cash cow for the CBC; everyone knows this, even sports reporters who regularly lament the Leafs’ constant presence on CBC Sports’ flagship program irrespective of their on-ice performance (we salute you, William Houston of The Globe and Mail!).

* While on the air, listeners can call into the show at 1-877-645-6696, or send questions/comments via this email address: nhlhour@nhl.com
**Archived shows available for download via podcast on NHL.com.

Q. How did you come to settle on the number of six games, and two, had you spoken to the Stars before you decided on the suspension by the league? I get the feeling that they were going to take action if you had not.

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Let me take the second question first. What we have done is reflect the league response. This is what we felt was the appropriate response to what Sean Avery said, and what the Stars choose to do or not do is up to them. And you’ll have to talk to them if you would like their guidance in that regard.

With respect to the six games, as all of you who cover the game know, there is no formula that ever gets you to a particular number in disciplinary cases with precision. You have to do your evaluating based upon the entirety of the circumstances, what you think is correct.

What was guiding me in this case was a number of factors. One, we needed to be clear that this was the type of conduct that we did not view as acceptable and not representative of what our players do.

Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice-President Jim Devellano will be the guest on today’s edition of NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman. The show is on now, from 4-5 p.m. ET on XM Satellite Radio (204) and Sirius (208).

* While on the air, listeners can call into the show at 1-877-645-6696, or send questions/comments via this email address: nhlhour@nhl.com
**Archived shows available for download via podcast on NHL.com.

At 4pm ET you can tune into Live From Wayne Gretzky’s. This week, hosts Gord Stellick & Doug McLean talk to Bob Clarke in the studio, and are scheduled to hook up with Phil Esposito and Brian Burke over the course of the show.

The show can be heard online or by local radio via these stations: XM 204 NHL Home Ice, Fan 590, and others.

If you’ve never heard The NHL Hour with Gary Bettman, you can download the podcasts on NHL.com. What you’ll find is that Bettman is his usual well-informed self, digging his heels in on a myriad of issues and never giving an inch during a discussion. The man has a politician’s gift for staying on message, even if he’s never had a politician’s gift for charisma.

But you’ll also find the program is a Twilight Zone where harsh criticism of Bettman’s performance over the last 15 years doesn’t seem to exist. The callers are, to a fault, polite and complementary. If they guys behind Gary Bettman Sucks or Fire Bettman are calling in, they might be on lithium.

Earlier today, Forechecker pointed to an interview that Sharkspage posted with Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. I wanted to reference the interview here on the main KK Hockey feed as well, just in case anyone missed the earlier post. It’s really a fascinating read for anyone interested in the issues of technology and media as it pertains to the NHL.

Leonsis provides a great deal of detail about how the league does—and will—utilize technology to support its business model. In his words:

“We lifted up [our business enterprise], put the internet underneath, and then slammed it back down so it is the powerplant the pretty much drives everything that we do.”

The caller said she is “sick and tired” of our negative coverage of the team, and said we’re trying to drive them out of town. She was particularly irked by the large photo we ran of goalie Pascal Leclaire in Wednesday’s paper, who gave up 7 goals in a loss Tuesday. She said we had the worst coverage of an NHL team of any newspaper.

Worth a read, given that the matter of “negative” coverage is something that fans around the league often have strong feelings about. And the fact that the ownership company behind The Dispatch also happens to own a 10% stake in the Columbus Blue Jackets and their arena, is another interesting twist.

With credit to Matt at the Battle of Alberta, we came across a couple of interesting articles published in recent days that I don’t believe we linked on KK, both looking at sports journalism (though not just hockey media). They are:

Ask hardcore hockey fans if Versus is indeed a “hockey network,” and the majority would argue against the claim. Since purchasing the NHL’s cable rights in 2005, the Versus network hasn’t exactly endeared itself to die-hard hockey fans in the U.S. Between the silly mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds to its reputation, there isn’t a month that goes by without some impassioned rant about its failings as the NHL’s cable home or some fan-driven effort in support of the NHL reconciling with its abusive former spouse at ESPN.

To many fans, Versus is a punchline; a jigsaw puzzle of unrelated (and fringe) sports that viewers still can’t find in many hotels or sports bars around the U.S. Its hockey talent and coverage are much maligned, with even the most optimistic fans left frustrated by the approach to its most prized asset not named Lance Armstrong.

Not that any of this troubles the NHL’s cable host, which is available in 74 million homes nationwide.

A few weeks ago the streets and Skytrain stations of Vancouver were plastered with posters to advertise the new Canucks season. The theme, “We are All Canucks”, and the unique twist is that they used photos of players in plain-clothes, fans on the concourse, and snapshots of hockey bloggers and podcasters.

In the interest of disclosure, and as Rebecca also noted in her article, the Canucks campaign does feature myself and the other Crazy Canucks as well.

Given how much negative attention has been brought to the issue of NHL teams and fan-media in recent weeks, I just wanted to point out that there are some teams working hard to find a balance on this issue. In my experience, the Canucks themselves (you can check out their FanZone) have come a long way in recent years.

Off the Wire is a new page on the KK site (you can access it from the navigation bar above) where we’ll generally be posting minor news and press releases that will be of interest to some fans, but maybe not the broader NHL audience. Those posts won’t show up on the front page or on the KK Hockey page.

About subscriptions: Don’t forget there are numerous ways to subscribe to KK. To receive all the posts we put up each day this feed is the one to use; to select only specific blogs just take your pick! (And of course, there’s always Twitter.)

Don’t forget our Hockey Links page—it can be very useful for finding everything from mainstream media outlets to great fan blogs. If you spot any broken links or would like to suggest a site for the page, contact us anytime.

The NHL is by far the most heavily criticized major sport in North America. Major TV networks (ahem, ESPN) and casual fans everywhere don’t think twice about taking cheap shots at hockey. They’ll talk about how fighting is a disgrace, how there’s consistently an on ice attack every year, or how the NHL is embarrassing because they’re on a network that isn’t shown by many major cable networks. That’s about the extent of the criticisms that anybody has about hockey, and the only legitimate one is about some violent on ice occurrences, but even that is pretty rare. It may seem frequent because the only time ESPN cares about showing the NHL is when something controversial happens.

[Hockey blogging is] becoming a big business, and Kevin Allen, the president of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, only sees the influence growing.

“We’re kind of the Johnny-come-lately of the blogging world,” said Allen, the national hockey writer for USA Today. “For a decade now, in the entertainment world, bloggers have been very powerful in terms of the impact they can have on movies. We now see politicians hand-delivering scoops to bloggers who blog from their pajamas in their house—giving them information mainstream media can’t get. If it’s happening in entertainment and in politics, I don’t know why any of us would have thought it wouldn’t enter our world too.”

Earlier today we linked to David Shoalts report in the Globe & Mail, which claimed numerous unnamed sources who suggested that a second NHL team in Toronto was not out of the question. Later, we also linked a Toronto Star article which refuted the initial reports, with their own source claiming it was “nonsense.”

FSWest employed a host of new camera angles as part of an experiment to bring the arena experience to the home viewer. Well, I applaud the attempt, but I found the experience to be frustrating at times.

Cameras along the glass were able to better capture the players entering the neutral zone, but any play in the offensive zones appeared, well, like you were seated along the glass and far away from the action in front of the net. It was tough to see the defense set up or find an open man up ice because the angle of the cameras along the glass had a better view of the near corner rather than the entire offensive/defensive zone.

The National Hockey League (NHL) today announced the return of NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman. The second season of the weekly, hour-long, live radio show will debut Thursday, October 16 at 4 p.m., ET, on NHL Home Ice (XM Channel 204 and Sirius Channel 208) and NHL.com. The show, co-hosted by former NHL player Bill Clement, will air every Thursday throughout the NHL season.

Whoopi Goldberg, the award-winning actress, moderator of ABC’s “The View” and a long-time NHL fan, will be the guest on Thursday’s season-debut show. She will join Commissioner Bettman in the NHL Radio/Sirius XM Radio studio located in the NHL Store Powered by Reebok store.